Mobile Suit Gundam: Transversal Alliance Part Four
Mobile Suit Gundam: Transversal Alliance Part Four Ten: Are we there yet? 0900 Corona Century Infirmary, The Harbinger With a hiss and grimace, the pilot of the Prophet removed the needle of the injection gun from his arm. Applying a bandage, he waited for the injection to spread throughout his circulatory system. Minutes later, he pulled his overshirt back on and exited the infirmary. 'Those blasted injections get worse every time' he complained silently, 'but I'll tolerate them if they do what the good doctor promised'. The ace pilot of the Host shuffled down the Harbinger's corridors, searching for his superior. He finally found him in the observation platform of the hangar, overseeing the rebuilding of the Prophet. Before he could say anything, the Captain said without turning around "And here is my champion, back from another 'improvement' session. By the time your machine is finished with it's own improvement, the two of you will be unstoppable.". The said champion stepped beside his Captain, observing his tool of destruction being honed. "Now there isn't an icicle's chance in hell of that pilot defeating you again." the Captain remarked. Nodding in agreement, the pilot thought to himself 'Yes, I will make him pay for humiliating me repeatedly, and then...', glancing at the Captain, he sneered malevolently. Simulator, The Wyvern Shortyly after boarding and unloading of the Gundams, each member of the G-Alliance goes about on their own devices, passing the time until the Wyvern rejoins with the main fleet of the UESF... As the red hot plasma formed the twin blades of the super lacerta, Leonid brought it up in a defensive stance, and keyed his intercom "Ok, let's see what you've got.". Opposite of him, in a simialar defensive stance, stood the terror of the UESF- the Prophet. In a flash of thruster fire, it came at him brandishing it's sais. The Superior stood still however, waiting for the appropriate moment to counter. Just as the blue blur came within melee range, and brought one of it's sais around in a decapitation maneuver, Leonid acted. Faster than normal human thought, he ducked the Gundam and spun it around whilst sweeping it's leg under the Prophet's own, tripping it. 'Fool,' he thought 'falling for one of my signature moves', and brought his saber up to cleave it in half at the waist. As the two halves clanged to the floor, the Superior stood and sheathed it's weapon. Again, the Son of the Eagle flipped on his intercom "That was much too easy, the real deal would have lasted at least a few more minutes. Make it harder, I want to train not play slash 'em up." he quipped. Some moments later, the simulation restarted from the beginning. Returning to his former stance, Leonid thought to himself 'I have to try and activate the berserker state again, and possibly master it. If I could...' but at that moment, the fake-Prophet came at him once more. In one of the ship's quarter rooms, a certain pink suited android stared at her reflection. Tilting her head to the side, she examined her human-like body. Starting at her feet, she steadily drew her gaze upward, until reaching her lips, and smiled. Then, she saw her eyes- gleaming silver, with yellow, pupilless irises- and frowned. In the shadowy corner of the room, her brother's voice spoke up "What is it sister? is there a problem with your optics?". She looked back at him and replied softly "No brother, its just...". At her pause, he zoomed in to her for a better look "Just what?". No answer. He continued "I see. You find the the fact that they are silver and not white unpleasant. They aren't human eyes.". Ni looked to the floor silently, confirming her brother's accusation. He stood and walked to her slowly "MVT 2, I realize that continued exposure to humans may bring you a certain appreciation for their attributes, but envying them is not appropriate behaviour. We are not human, and never will be. We are constructed of sinthetic materials, not flesh and bone; we are creatures of calculation and logic, not of emotion. Do you understand?". She slowly looked up at him and nodded. Returning the nod, he left their room quietly knowing he'd gotten his point across. Ni again glanced at her reflection, and-against possibility- shed a tear. MVT 1, after the hatch to his and his sisters's quarters hissed shut, made his way to the simulator. 'I'm contradicting my entire lecture by going to blow off steam' he said to himself. Passing a crewman, he waved to him before cursing himself 'I'm even showing signs of cameraderie. Maybe we are slowly becoming human...'. He passed a mirror and backpedaled slowly, examining himself just as his sister was. He then shook his head 'No, we are machines, tools of war, nothing more.', and resumed his walk to the simulator. Just as Leonid began to gain the upper hand in the saber lock between himself and the fake-Prophet, the simulation restarted once more. "What the-" he began, before noticing Ichi's face on his HUD. "My apologies for interrupting your session Leonid, but would you mind a new sparring partner? I need to... run a few scenarios.". With a friendly smile, the ZAFT ace replied "Not at all comrade, I was getting tired of the weak simulator anyway heheh.". A beep sounded, and the voice of the not-too-happy simulator operator retorted "Well excuse me for being incapable of creating challenging opponents for SUPERHUMAN PILOTS!". Leonid chuckled at this and awaited a new simulation for himself and Ichi. The sim environment activated, placing them in an asteroid field. Leonid activated the Superior's beam shield and drew it's Baldr rifle, taking aim at the Helios. Waiting as it drew it's own GN sabers (in blade-staff configuration) and beam rifle, he inquired "You can pilot the Helios without your sister?". Once assuming a defensive stance, Ichi replied "Yes. It requires more from me, but it is possible. Shall we begin?". The Superior attached it's bayonette to the Baldr, and resumed aim. "En guarde" said it's pilot, and they began. The chief admiral of the UESF sat in the captain's chair, bored as a midget in a theme-park. 'I know I should be alert and ready for surprise attacks, but I've always hated long drives, since I was a kid.'. Garm then reached into his pocket and withdrew a photo. The photo was of a beautiful brunette woman and a teenage boy who looked to have a perfect blend of her's and the Admiral's features. Smiling slightly as he gazed at the pair, he thought to himself 'When this war is over, I'm resigning and spending the rest of my years with you guys, where I belong.'. At that moment, the communications officer piped up "Admiral, we've recieved a message from the Fafnir, of the main fleet: the Little Grey has returned from it's pursuit mission. They apparently were unable to subdue the cloaked ship, and had to come back for resupply.". With a sigh, Garm returned the photo to his pocket and flipped on the ship's intercom "Attention pilots fo the Gundams: the Little Grey has returned to the fleet, which we are nearing. Prepare for rendezvous." and flipped it back off. A few leagues ahead, the Wyvern-classes of the main UESF fleet could be seen awaiting the arrival of their flagship of the same name. On a second thought, the Admiral addressed the communications officer "Notify Miss Ronah that we must have a meeting between us and the Gundam pilots about our next move.". With a "Yes sir", the officer relayed the message. Hangar, Thresher Class Ship "Seeker" For the second time, Seeker One gazed up at the magnificent tool of destruction she had retrieved for the cause. In the half-day period it took to reach their current point in the journey back, the mechanics had repainted the grey and white Earth machine to better cater to it's new pilot's preferences. It now gleamed scarlet and bright orange (scarlet torso, head, and limbs, orange joints, shoulder flares, claws, and feet). The bright eyes of it's retriever shone with awe at it, never tiring of the sight of it. "It" remained currently without a moniker, for during the process of fetching it she hadn't bothered to inquire it's name, nor did she think the Earth dogs had designated it yet anyway. For now, she only referred to it as the Gundam, like Arashi called his. 'Arashi...'. The thought of him broke her focus on the unit before her, and clouded her mind with confusion. ' "Mercille this isn't you, you're not a killer!", "What are you talking about? it's me, Arashi!", "Mercille stop! what about me? what about that night on the beach? Mercille I-" '. She shook her head quickly, trying to rid the words from her head. "No, he's the enemy..." she strained, clutching at her head "I can't...". His face appeared before her eyes, smiling softly. ' "Mercille..." '. She shook her head again, violently "No, no, no.". When his face didn't go away, she swiped at it, as if to claw at him in reality. As the apparation faded, she looked on, steeling herself. 'I'm a soldier, and he is the enemy' she commanded her mind 'That's all there is.'. Conference Room, The Wyvern Once the participents of the meeting were seated (the G-Alliance pilots, Admiral Garm, Shawn Louis, Bereh Ronah, Yasuo, "The Blue Flash", Minoru Suzuki, and a representative of the MS Corps, upon request by the pilots), the Admiral began with "Hello everyone, it is good to see you all again, healthy and in one piece. I've ordered this meeting to discuss a few imporant issues, primarily concerning the next course of action to take against our foe.". At this the congregation nodded, save for Yasuo who preoccupied himself with a video game. With a stern glare from his brother, he turned it down. "I understand that a few of you have your own issues you would like discussed at this meeting, so we will now decide what our first order of business shall be.". Immidiately, the hands of the android twins raised, and the Admiral nodded to them. In unison, they asked simply "We find it imperative that an explanation for the Gundam that the Host hijacked be offered.". An awkward silence followed this question, as the eyes of each of the other pilots looked to the Admiral for the answer. He in turn, looked to the MS Coprs rep, and nodded. The thin, middle-aged man stood, facing the other participants, and began explaining. "You see, shortly after you all appeared and decimated almost an entire army of Host forces, we MS engineers took the liberty of examining your machines, and taking notes.". Arashi interrupted the rep, asking rhetorically "So you reverse engineered the tech from our Gundams to make your own, without asking?". The rep paused before answering "Technically, we didn't reverse engineer anything. We simply studied them while repairing them, and payed careful attention to their combat data. You must understand, we did not want to betray your trust, we simply thought you would get the wrong idea, as you are now proving.". It was Ichi's turn to interrupt, as he broke in coldly "What you 'simply' did was create a highly powerful machine without fail-safes, that is now in the hands of the enemy. Asking first would have been the wiser choice, being that we are the experts in the field of our own units.". Admiral Garm tried to defend the rep, arguing "Don't you realize that we're desperate here? even with your help, the Host is an overwhelming force to compete with, and your machines are much more advanced than either their's or our's. We thought that if we combined certain features of each of your suits with some of our own tech, we'd have an unstoppable savior on our side. It didn't have fail-safes because it isn't finished.". "Can you tell us what all it's capable of?" requested Bereh. She was obliged by the rep setting up a hologram displaying the suit and it's specs. Pulling out a collapsable pointer, he described the unit's features "As you can see, it is fairly larger than the average mobile suit, but not quite a mobile armor. It is designed to have the perfect offense and defense: it has a set of five claws on each arm that serves as hands, which can generate beam blades for extra cutting power. Also in these claws are special cannons that fire beams that can curve, making it hard to dodge. These beams are of high output, extremely powerful. It has a special field that can deflect beam weapons of all power outputs, even it's own. Finally, it's propulsion system is based upon the Minovsky Drive of the F100, but not quite as powerful, for we could not duplicate it perfectly.". Arashi looked up at the last point "So, besides being able to destroy an entire military base, and take a hit from most anything, it's got the power to move at high speeds and travel long distances by itself?", to which the rep nodded. Ichi then queried "Do tell us how this Gundam was constructed in so short a time; our own are constructed in a minimum of a month or so.", to which the other pilots agreed. With a small smile, the rep replied "We've been playing the mobile suit game for a while, and have perfected most aspects of creating them, plus, the suit isn't exactly complete. Abruptly, Leonid broke in to the explanation "I believe I have found our next course of action.". Gaining the attention of the rest of the participants, he continued "Obviously, this 'unstoppable Gundam' poses the largest threat to us, for according to the Little Grey's report, they could not subdue the ship, but it seems to be retreating to a far-off location. In the period between the time they stole the Gundam and now, they can't have gone far, especially with a ship small enough needed to sneak past orbital defense. Therefore, I suggest we again send a pursuit force, but this time with a couple of our Gundams, preferably mine and Arashi's.". At this Shawn inquired "Why you and Arashi?", to which Leonid answered "For the Helios has the most firepower, and two pilots. It would be best to leave it behind in case of any more attacks, being the best equipped to defend.". The twins nodded at this "We agree, if anyone should stay behind to protect against more attacks, it should be us." said Ni. Everyone then took a moment to consider this. The Admiral then asked the group "So, all in favor of sending pursuit team after the stolen Gundam?". All hands went up. Nodding, he added "We will expand upon this later. Next order of business?". All remained silent. "None? then I declare this meeting adjourned.". A bit after the meeting, the participants went their seperate ways about the ship, Leonid heading to the cafeteria for a small lunch; he hadn't eaten for almost 24 hours. Settling into a table and digging in to his soup and crackers, the long-haired ace let his thoughts wonder. 'Things are happening a bit too fast for comfort here, it was only a week and a half ago that we came here. In all that time I still haven't gotten to see a psychiatrist on this whole different dimension headache' he pondered humorously. 'What could have happened to bring us here? It can't have been worm-holes, and there is no technology in any of our respective universes capable of this, according to what I've gathered from everyone else'. 'Could it be-' but his train of thought was interrupted by the arrival of one of his fellow "guests" to the world they occupied. With a friendly smile, he greeted Ni and gestured for her to sit next to him. "I don't suppose you're here to eat?" he joked. Returning his smile, she shook her head "No, I just ended up here after a bit of wondering, and saw you.". At this Leonid smiled bigger and bit into a cracker before saying "Wanted a bit of company huh? Well you know I'm always around.", to which she nodded and let her smile fade slightly. With concern he asked her "Is there something the matter Ni?". She looked back up at him and replied "It's just... I'm confused.". Seeing the quizzical look on his face, she elaborated "If you haven't noticed, I've... changed, in the past week and a half. Since coming here, I've become less me, and more... I don't know, and my brother doesn't seem to like it.". Scooting closer, Leonid asked "You think with this continued exposure to human emotion, it's started to rub off on you?". She shook her head and argued "No, that cannot be possible: before coming here, I'd been exposed to humans since activation, and remained the same.". Leonid then rubbed his chin, thinking. 'Maybe...' he then looked back up "Could coming here have affected your programming or something?". At that moment, her twin entered the cafeteria declaring "That is also improbable, if not impossible. We have no capacity for change of program that would replace our logic with emotion. We have no capacity for emotion period, our 'brains' are data processing units, nothing more.". He stepped up to the table and glared down at his sister "If there is any change, then there is a malfunction with that unit, which must be addressed immidiately.". At that moment, Leonid swore he saw fear in Ni's eyes, and took her hand. Ichi then looked at him coldly, to which Leonid returned his gaze defiantly "Leave her alone, there is no malfunction with her. She's your sister, not a device that you can just decide is broken.". Ichi opened his mouth to retort, but was unable to when the intercom announced "The following pilots are to report to the bridge: Arashi Takeda, Leonid Orlov, MVT 1 and 2, Shawn Louis.". With a final glare, Ichi led the way to the bridge. "Alright, so the current draft of the plan goes like so: The Little Grey, along with it's own complement of mobile weapons, a few of our own, and the F100 and Superior, will pursue the stolen Gundam, and either retrieve it, or take it down. They will be utilizing the aide of a specially fitted tail-booster to catch up to them. Meanwhile, the Helios will be staying behind to defend the main fleet from any more sneak attacks by the Prophet and that ship, with the help of the Lieutenant and his newly assigned MS squad. Upon success of the mission, the Little Grey will return to fleet, at the rendezvous point, and we will decide what to do from there. Sound about right?" the Admiral looked to the pilots he'd called to clarify. With a unanimous nod, he nodded in return and continued "Well then, I see no reason to delay, so I declare Operation: Takeback a go, and order those of you who are going to transfer to the Little Grey.". With a salute, the pilots dispersed to follow their orders. Around an hour later, the ship-sized tail-booster specially fitted for the Crossbone Vanguard ship hissed into place. "All hands prepare for ignition, I heard this baby has a kick" Bereh Ronah called into the intercom, and nodded to her crew to begin ignition procedure. Once charged up, she looked on with a determined grin "Here we go!". With a flash and short burst of speed, the Little Grey took off after her quarry. One pilot aboard, ignoring the nauseating spurt of g-forces, thought to himself solemnly 'Mercille...'. Chapter 11 ''0900 Corona Century '' ''Cockpit of SFMS-SFC Pegasus Custom '' With a yawn audible enough to rouse himself from his drunken catnap, Sean Louis sat up in his pilot's chair and stretched. While rubbing the crust from his eyes, he glanced at the monitor before him on the suit's console; he'd been typing away at it for hours, making improvements here and there to the OS and checking parameters. Giving it another once-over, he felt satisfied with it's current state- for now. Yawning again, he boosted himself out of his machine and into the bustling hangar of the Wyvern, where alongside his Pegasus, several others and the Helios stood statuesque. The Lieutenant gazed at the other ace machine in the hangar with some admiration, but gave most of his attention to his own tool of war. The custom unit was his pride and joy, his chief project that he deposited most of his time into, right before merriment. He wasn't a lover of war, killing, or conflict of any kind, but since tender years he'd had a respect and appreciation for mobile suits, from the science of their creation to their pure aesthetic beauty. And the way they could move... "Your admiration of your own unit is apparent, Lieutenant." droned a voice from behind him. Turning, he found the android MVT 1 floating a few feet back, staring intently at him. With a friendly smile, he returned "That obvious eh? I'm not trying to hide it really. I've always had a thing for them. They're a bit like race horses: beautiful, thrilling to watch, but when you have your own you care about everyone else's less.". Sean couldn't help but notice the change in how Ichi regarded him, and added "Did you want something, Ichi?". Nodding emotionlessly, he began "As you are aware, our fellow G-Alliance members are out on Operation: Takeback, to retrieve the stolen Gundam.", after Louis' comprehensive nod, he continued "The Gundam constructed with technology based upon our Gundams, much like your unit.". He let the last part sink in, seeming to bore holes into the other ace with his fierce, yet lifeless gaze. Taking a breath, Sean spoke patiently "I can tell what you're implying, and I realize that you must feel some distrust with us for developing two units using your technology, one of them almost exactly like the machines you and your comrades use, but you must understand, this is war. We must use whatever-". He was silenced by the flash of what seemed to be silent fury in MVT 1's eyes, and his sharp words that accompanied it "Yes, this is war, a war that I, my sister unit, and the other pilots were dragged into against our wills, across the barriers of time and space, and forced to fight, on a side that I, for one, am not 100% positive is the right side. I am an android, programmed to fight for my government, my planet, but I was also programmed with logic and reasoning, and I wonder if this is, in fact, my planet. The government I currently fight for has taken classified tech from me, and most probably from the other pilots, without permission, and under the dubious excuse of synthesis under observation alone. Tell me, Lieutenant Sean Louis of the United Earth Space Forces, why should I continue to fight for this government, who has stolen from us, in this campaign, of which I have no part in?". The haggard Pegasus pilot was silent for several long moments, before looking directly into Ichi's scathing glare and uttering simply "Because it is the right thing to do. Yes, we did take what we needed to better protect ourselves from this menace, that seeks to eliminate us and take our home, and no matter what calculations you do, no matter if it benefits you or not, the right thing to do is to fight for those who need help, especially if it's for your own planet, and regardless of whether or not it's the exact Earth you're from.". With this, he floated off in the direction of the cabins, leaving MVT 1 speechless... and thoughtful. ___________________________________________________________________________ ''Bridge, The Little Grey '' Bereh Ronah sighed, tapping her finger on the arm of her seat in an unsuccessful attempt at breaking her boredom. All there was to see ahead of her was the expanse of space, and around her only her crew. Tiredly, she queried of her helmsman "How fast are we going?", to which he responded "A dignified clip, due to our tail booster ma'am, several hundred kilometers per hour.". Nodding, she followed the question with "Any sign of the ship?". The young woman scanning the radar pulled her gaze from it stating "Not so much as a blip Captain, and the only signatures I'm picking up are from our own suits, ma'am.". Again nodding in acknowledgement, Bereh shifted in her chair and propped her chin on her palm. 'This is going to be a longer ride than I'd thought', she mused to herself. ''Hangar '' It hurt. It hurt so bad, more than anything he'd ever experienced before, in all his years in the military, and life. The pain was akin to a hole in his heart, a throbbing hole that grew and throbbed harder every time he thought of her, and the last thing she said. Arashi clenched his eyes shut in anguish, trying valiantly to fight off the tears. "Why..." he whispered shakily, as her smiling face flashed across his inner eyes, followed by the cold one he saw through the screen of the F100's console. He squeezed his hand into a fist, until his nails pierced the skin of his palms, until he let go with the hiss of his cabin door opening. In walked Yasuo Takeda, a trademark, childish smile on his face. "Arashi, what's up my-" he began greeting his sibling, but stopped when he observed the state Arashi was in, his smile wilting. Sitting next to him on his bunk, he pried "Arashi what's wrong? I've never seen you like this bro.". Wiping his eyes quickly, he mumbled "Nothing Yazzy, nothing, just ah, had a bad dream.". The boy almost believed him, but then noticed the crescent-shaped cuts in his lower right palm, leaking tiny rivulets of crimson. "Bro you're hurt!" he exclaimed, and snatched his brother's hand to examine it. Before Arashi could say anything, he continued "Arashi, why did you do this? Are you mad or something? Was it the battle?", looking up at him with large eyes. With a sad smile, he pulled his hand back and explained "Yes and no. It is because of the battle, in a way, but no I'm not mad. It's just...", when she appeared in his thoughts again. The ace's eyes filled, prompting realization in his younger brother's young mind. "It's her isn't it? That girl you spent all that time with on Earth. The one that, uh...". Smiling solemnly again, finished his brother's sentence "Defected. Rather, returned to the other side.". Yasuo paused, before inquiring gently "You wanna talk about it bro? Vent or something?". After some consideration, Arashi nodded and began "I cared about her Yazzy, more than I ever have for anyone unrelated to me before. From the moment I first saw her, I was spellbound, unable to look away. With some effort, and a lot of luck, I somehow made her care for me too, and that pulled me in deeper. I got to the point that I even loved the little flaws about her, of which there were few. I adored everything about her, her smile, her laugh, the way she moved and her expressions. Yes, I know I only knew her for a little over a week, but it felt so real I didn't care. Then.... that day. Everything was already falling apart when they imprisoned her, and then the attack caught me off guard. I just thought we'd repel it, and I could get back to setting things right. But things really fell apart, once that machine appeared. It was just another enemy until her voice, a voice that was music to my ears once, transmitted from it, and shattered my world. I couldn't believe it, I didn't at first, I wanted so bad for it to be a trick, a bad dream, but no; it was her voice, and it told me, with absolutely no hint of the warmth from before, that I had meant... nothing... to her... Oh God...". Here he couldn't hold it anymore, and broke down into shaking sobs. Shocked, Yasuo didn't know what to do at first, but then sibling instincts kicked in, and he pulled his brother into a comforting embrace, patting his back while saying softly "It's gonna be ok bro, it's gonna be ok.". __________________________________________________________________________ ''War Room, The Harbinger '' The occupants of the War Room hushed themselves as soon as their commanding officer entered. The Captain of the Harbinger, commander of the entire space unit, looked out over his top brass with a cold, stern gaze. Letting a few moments pass to unsettle a few of his underlings, he finally spoke "Gentlemen, I'm not going to tell you what this meeting concerns, nor should I need to; I believe we all are aware of the primary issue preventing our invasion of Earth, and complete extermination of it's vile inhabitants, as well as the sole reason it is not already accomplished: the crested mobile suits.". A murmur of agreement and tremor of approving nods went through the officers in the room, before silencing when the Captain continued "The pest that we have been endeavoring to eliminate has bolstered their chances of survival by enlisting the help of stronger 'bugs', if you will. These 'bugs' have apparently come from nowhere, and according to recent intelligence, not even the Earth Forces know of their origin. They seem to have been sent by a higher power... if you believe in such things.". This elicited a small chuckle among the Captain's audience, but a chilling look choked them off. Stepping slightly to the side, he whipped out a pointer and swished the air, bringing up a holographic image. It portrayed three files alongside each-other, with a rotating three-dimensional model of one of the Gundams in the upper right corner of each. Pointing at the far left file, the elite officer began explaining "This unit, is the F100. Reports from our espionage sect have revealed some of it's specs: it is primarily a high speed, long range assault unit, with multiple beam and shell-firing weapons, few close range. It possesses a unique propulsion system that affords it great speed, maneuverability, and long distance flight.". Moving the pointer over to the middle file, he continued "The Superior, a high-end, all around unit. This suit is highly capable in all ranges, including range throughout the battlefield, due to special remote weapons, capable of destroying multiple machines effortlessly. Our Prophet has, regrettably, had several complications with this unit; the new modifications should remedy that problem.". Now pointing to the final file, the Captain looked to the assemblage before him "Finally, we have discovered this unit to be the Helios. Here is the ultimate threat, as far as I can gather. The aforementioned MS has the greatest firepower of the three, evident in it's debut in this war. Not only does it have incredible long and close range capabilities, our mole has shed light on the fact that it is piloted by a crew of two; two machines.". After raising his hand to restore silence, the Captain added "Now that you are all enlightened on the foe we face, let me introduce you to our salvation, retrieved for us by the espionage unit, with data sent ahead while they make their way here.". In the back of the room, a pilot sneered as his master blabbed on about the shiny new toy he'd gotten. 'Like the rich kid at a playground, showing off to those below him' he snarled to himself. 'We don't need that now. Now now that my machine is complete'. With a "Hmph", he left the room quietly and drifted to the hangar. Gripping the handrail of the catwalk with excitement, he gazed up at the cobalt bringer of death in front of him. "Yes, we'll show him who the true savior is... and we'll show that insolent pilot who is superior.". Back in the War Room, the Captain finished his presentation. "In summation, utilizing our new top machines, we will commence a new strike on the Earth Forces right where it hurts, where we should have taken them the first time. Yes, they have those units, but now we have our own ace in the hole, three in fact.". Grinning maliciously, he concluded "They won't know what hit them, especially with these new pieces on the board.".